Normalcy
by fandomliciousdefinition
Summary: On his quest with Reyna and Coach Hedge, Nico is always tired from shadow travelling and barely functional. When they arrive and instantly have to flee, he doesn't have enough strength to travel but tries anyway-it's the only way to escape. He ends up separated from the group and meets a mortal boy named Casey, who has an effect on Nico that the son of Hades never expected.
1. Chapter 1

(Chapter 1) Nico

"Duck!" Reyna's shout pierced into Nico's head and wrang around in it for a while. Luckily, falling forward felt like a more natural movement to him in his weakened state than standing up. He tumbled over and Reyna's sword swung over his head, whistled through the air and sliced through the stymphalian bird, exploding it to dust.

More kept coming out of the sky, taking a nip at them, and shooting off before any of the three of them could get a clear shot. Nico was still exhausted; they had only landed here a few minutes ago and it always took at least an hour for him to recover from shadow traveling. He, Reyna, and Coach Hedge had been travelling via the shadows for a few days, and there was a monster at every turn. You would think they could afford to wait at least a few minutes before instant attack, but this time as soon as the three of them had set foot in Barcelona they were greeted by feathers and talons.

Nico felt like an absolute nuisance. He could barely lift his arms, let alone battle.

"DON'T THINK YOU'LL GET AWAY WITH IT YOU LITTLE FURRY JAYBIRDS" Coach Hedge took a flying leap at a gaggle of them that was swooping down to attack and got his fair share of scratches and cuts, but managed to drive them away again with sheer force, or possibly loudness. Nico had the uncomfortable feeling that they might just be going to get all their friends to see this crazy goat guy and the wimpy rag doll of a son of Hades. And the birds weren't even furry, they were feathery. Reyna was the only reason they hadn't all been killed already, and she fought valiantly as more birds swooped down.

Of course, just as Nico was reflecting on her importance about ten of the stymphalian birds swooped down at once, all headed for the obvious threat. She tried to do a kind of ninja swipe with her sword and take them all out at once, but they weren't in a straight line and she miscalculated the angle. They swarmed around and under her blade, and jabbed her in the middle, ripping and tearing.  
"Reyna!" Nico tried his best to deflect the birds with his sword and get them away from her. After turning a few to feathery white glop, the others, possibly spooked by his general aura of death, went off. In a few seconds, however, screeches in the distance made it apparent that they had only gone to get reinforcements.

Reyna was on the ground, clutching her stomach in pain. Her sword lay unattended on the ground. Coach Hedge was braced for the battle, but there was no way they could take them, not without Reyna, while Nico was weak. He knelt down next to her and tried to clumsily examine her wounds. A small moan escaped her lips. "We have to get out of here. We can't defeat them."

Nico knew she was right. But they also couldn't run with the Athena Parthenon. And shadow travelling was very unlikely. Every inch of Nico's skin already felt like it had taken a personal beating from Coach Hedge's baseball bat. He just didn't have the energy.

"I don't know if I can do it, I'm not recovered." The swarm of birds had appeared in the distance. There was no help possible; all the mortals just milled around minding their own business. Honestly, they could have at least seen people getting pestered by ordinary birds. What did they think the bleeding and scratched up kids were doing, feeding them bread crumbs?

"You have to try, Nico." Reyna said sharply. She never sounded defeated, even when she so thoroughly was. I know, he thought exasperatedly.

"I can take 'em," Coach Hedge primed his baseball bat.

"Get over here" Nico said. he grabbed Reyna's hand and touched the Athena Parthenos. How was he supposed to do this without even enough juice to raise a sword? Coach Hedge backed up. They only had a few seconds at best before the hoard reached them.

Come on, Nico thought desperately. He tried to force them through the shadows, but they wouldn't budge. He had nothing. You have to do this, he reminded himself. Think of the camps, they can't go to war. Everything will fall, millions will die. This is depending on you right now, Nico. Come on, think of Bianca, she'd hate it if you came this far just to fail now. Hades would be so disappointed. Think of Percy…

Nico sucked in a breath and clenched Reyna's hand tighter. He shut his eyes hard and he could feel his body trembling. The shrieks of the imminent danger were always present, growing louder and louder.

And then they faded away, and the ground fell from beneath their feet. As the cold enveloped them, Nico thought he could actually feel his life force draining away. Against his will, he felt his hands go slack, and he nearly forgot how to breathe. Just until we land, he thought. We're almost there, just a little longer. You can do this, concentrate, invigorate yourself, don't fall asleep. Don't lose-

He lost consciousness.

His brain awoke before his body. At least, that's what it felt like. He wasn't sure of an exact point in which he regained consciousness but he found himself remembering a time that already felt like it was from a different life. In all honesty, he woke up thinking about Mythomagic and one time in which he'd beat someone using a combination of Demeter, who most players underestimated considerably, and a hydra. It was so exciting…

Reyna. Coach Hedge. Athena Parthenon. Percy. Quest. Can't move.

From somewhere right next to him he heard an unfamiliar voice that would have made him jump had he been fully conscious.

"Hey, are you okay?"

No, was his immediate thought. But someone was there and had seen him. It was probably some mortal who just saw a guy lying there and thought he should help. Or maybe it was a god or a monster trying to fool him. It was probably the latter. Even if it was a mortal, though, it wouldn't be long before Nico's scent attracted monsters from all around wherever he was. He had to get up.

He forced his eyes open and found himself staring up into the face of a strikingly normal looking teenage guy with blonde hair, brown eyes, and freckles. The guy looked relieved.

"Good, you're not dead," he said. "What happened? You look like you've been beaten. Can you sit up?"

Nico tried to prop himself up on his elbow but immediately fell back to the ground again, hitting his head and feeling ridiculous.

"I guess that's a no," the stranger slipped his arm under Nico's shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position. All of Nico's instincts screamed to push him off, but he physically couldn't. He tried to hold himself up, but he kept falling back against the guy.

"Take it easy," he said, sounding concerned, and then again "What happened?"

Nico wondered if he even had the strength to open his mouth. He tried and only managed a low groan. Where was he? Where were Reyna and Coach Hedge? Where was the Athena Parthenos? How do you lose a fifty foot statue? He had to find them, somehow, and pray to the gods that one or the other had the Athena Parthenos. And also that neither was dead or suspended in shadow space.

"You wouldn't happen to have a golden drachma on you, would you?" Nico muttered. He figured if this was a monster or a god he might; it wasn't a completely stupid question. But then again, he shouldn't overestimate his luck.

The guy's brow furrowed. "You mean like the greek coin? Sorry, no."

How does he even know what a drachma is? Nico reflected vaguely. Well, it didn't matter, since he didn't have one. Nico needed to find some place that would, though he had no idea where. Maybe Reyna and Coach Hedge hadn't landed too far away. Maybe Gaia would decide that she loved the demigods and would cancel the war. He smiled weakly at the thought.

"Look, um not to pry," the guy said in the tone of voice that obviously meant prying. "But you just appeared out of nowhere all beaten up and I'm kind of confused…"

A shot of adrenaline in his stomach made Nico sit up straight and look at the kid. "What do you mean, appeared out of nowhere?"

"Uh, I mean you just appeared. Like, in a flash of black, poof. There you were. Out of nowhere."

Nico stared at him more closely. He didn't seem to be lying or feining innocence. Nico supposed that had he been a monster, he would have eaten him already. But how could this guy see the truth of how Nico had arrived? Was he a demigod? Maybe in all the chaos going on between the camps he hadn't been discovered. But still, he was old enough that they might have found him before the war started. Then what…

Oh, of course. This guy was like Percy's mom and Rachel Elizabeth Dare: a mortal who could see through the mist. That made sense. There couldn't be that few of them around; it was a bit of a surprise that he hadn't run into one before.

"It's called shadow travelling." Nico figured there was no point in lying to the kid. He would be able to see anything crazy that leaped out at Nico anyway, and it seemed like it would be a while before Nico would be able to walk around on his own.

The guy looked even more puzzled, but didn't ask anything else yet. He could probably hear how weak Nico's voice was, since Nico could barely force the words out.

"We should probably get you off of the ground at least. Can you stand? I can help you get over to that bench and then maybe you could recover a bit more?"

Nico just nodded. He sincerely doubted his current walking abilities, but he couldn't just lay there on the ground like monster bait. He might as well put this kid further and further into unknown danger. Ruin as many lives as possible. Just run around everywhere, generically spreading destruction.

The guy pulled Nico's arm around his shoulders and hoisted him up. Nico felt utterly useless. His feet actually dragged on the ground, they were so useless. The two of them managed to get him half walking and with a few minutes of desperate dragging and shuffling along they reached the bench, which had only been twenty feet away in the first place.

"Okay," the guy deposited Nico as carefully as possible on the bench and sat next to him. "So, do I get a story or what? Do you need help? What do you mean by shadow traveling, and what are those monsters I always see everywhere? What-"

"Shh" Nico's brain wasn't even keeping up with the rapid-fire questions. One at a time was all he could handle at the moment. He just needed to recover. He glanced over and saw the guy kicking his legs, looking impatient. With an internal relenting sigh Nico finally spoke. "Have you heard of Greek Mythology? Well, basically it's all real. Roman mythology too. I'm a demigod. And monsters are greek monsters. You're not crazy. Theres a mist covering everything from mortals, but some like you can see through it. Answer your questions?"

"A very relatively small portion of them." He didn't look satisfied but he seemed to get that Nico wasn't exactly up for a long explanatory conversation.

An idea occurred to Nico. He might have packed some ambrosia, just in case… he could really use some now. He started digging around in his pockets for it.

"What are you looking for?"

Nico ignored him, he was trying to reach under the folds of his giant jacket pockets. There had to be something in there. Hah! Nico triumphantly pulled a small square of ambrosia from his pocket. It wasn't much, and something nagged at the back of his mind that he should save it. But if a monster attacked him by surprise, he would be no good. He would just end up leaving Reyna and Coach Hedge with a giant statue to drag around half the world. This was an emergency, people would probably die if he didn't eat it now.

He popped it into his mouth and slowly chewed and swallowed. Warmth spread through him awakening him a little. It wouldn't fully heal him this quickly, but he thought he might be able to stand up now, at least. The guy was just watching him curiously.

"Ambrosia," Nico finally answered. "It heals demigods, but it's deadly to mortals."

"Wow… so if you're a demigod, one of your parents is a god?" Nico nodded. "Which one?"

He was tempted to just reply "my dad" and not give which god it was. But then again, it didn't matter really. It was probably a good thing if the mortal was repelled by him. It might save his life.

"Hades."

"God of the dead right? Wow, no wonder you wear so much black. So what, all the gods and myths are just casually real? This entire time? And nobody's noticed? Mist must be pretty good. What if all schizophrenics are actually just seeing this? Wait that doesn't make sense they have different delusions. Oh well. So are you healed yet?"

"Not entirely, but I'm better." Nico felt strange about the way he talked. It was in a constant babble, easy to tune out but also sort of easy to listen to. He thought he could almost hear Bianca's voice. Remind you of someone?

Nico forced himself to stand. "I guess this is goodbye then."

"Wait what?" He sounded shocked. It wasn't like Nico could afford to have a noisy mortal following him around. If death was what the kid wanted, then Nico would be a great option for him. He was the expert on death.

"Don't go, not yet. I want to know more about the Greek myths and how everything works. And besides, you're still pretty weak I can tell. You may need my help."

"I'm fine" Nico cut in harshly. He didn't need anyone. "For your information, the only reason you haven't been attacked and killed by those monsters you see is because you're a mortal. They only have an appetite for demigods, which would apply to me. Don't be an idiot."

With that Nico adjusted his footing and walked away. He still felt faulty in his steps, like he might fall over at any minute. He tried not to let it show, and just focused on not looking back at the mortal.

The farther he walked, the more sure he was that the guy was still following him at a distance. He kept hearing footsteps in accordance with his own, that stopped when he stopped. He knew he should really turn around and tell him to stop, but he honestly didn't want to deal with it. He had more pressing things to worry about, namely finding Reyna and Coach Hedge. Why was he so stupid, he should have packed extra drachmas in case something like this happened. Come to think of it, he should have eaten the ambrosia before trying to shadow travel away from the stymphalian birds. None of this would have happened at all. You will always be a disappointment won't you, he thought wryly to himself.

He started looking around for somewhere he could get a map of this place, wherever he was. It occurred to him that his covert follower would know, but Nico just wanted to avoid him. Interacting with him the little that he already had was risky. Where did one find a map shop walking the streets of a random city?

Nico was beginning to feel nervous that he hadn't had enough ambrosia to heal him completely. His footsteps still felt unsteady, and his arms hung limply at his sides. The thought of even moving them seemed taxing. It really was pushing what he could take, shadow travelling twice in a row. Especially since he'd been doing it so often recently, barely allowing himself time to recover before moving on so they wouldn't have to face too many monsters. Slowly, his condition had been deteriorating, and now he'd gone too far.

He walked among the tourists, trying to blend into shadows and make himself less noticeable. It worked easily on humans, but he knew that the real threat would be able to smell him, and hiding would be worthless. If he met anything, he would have to fight. Hoping to reassure himself, he tried clenching his fists to prove to himself he had the strength. The amount of energy that drained from him resulted in the opposite effect.

Just then, there was a commotion not too far in the distance. Nico's ears were suddenly assaulted with bangs and screams. His heart beat sped up uncomfortably fast; it seemed to take a leap into his throat. Maybe it was just normal, city noise. A car crash?

But a car crash normally didn't let out an ear-splitting roar.


	2. Chapter 2

(chapter 2) Nico

He drew his sword clumsily, almost dropping it. This wasn't good, but he figured he had a better chance of fighting whatever it was than he had running. He had to forcefully repress the panic that was trying to burst into his system. The uproar seemed to be getting nearer, until down the street at the corner a few outside dining tables went flying, along with a few wasted meals.

Something huge erupted from the chaos of running mortals and flying bowls of spaghetti. What was first visible was a mass of feathers and a giant beak. It had to be another bird, thought Nico exasperatedly. He was getting sick of birds.

As the monster approached and more of it became visible, however, the hind-legs and tail of a lion appeared. Though his brain felt stewed with misery and anxiety, he thought he remembered this one. It seemed like it would have been obvious under any other circumstances, but what was it again?

There was no time to think. It roared when it caught sight of Nico and started to make it's way toward him, too quickly. It was impossible to brace himself, as there wasn't much to even brace. He had no chance. It wasn't so much that he was afraid of death itself, as no one knew better than him what to expect. He just thought it would be so stupid to get killed by some random monster and fail everyone just because of a flock of demon birds that had forced him to shadow travel before he was ready.

He had just enough time to remember the word griffin before the beast was on him. Nico raised his sword and found it swatted away in record time. The giant taloned foreclaw hit him in the chest and knocked the breath out of him, pinning him to the ground. It all happened so fast, Nico could hardly believe it had happened at all. He was really going to die there; he was out of tricks and ideas. He stared into beady yellow eyes, prepared for them to be the last thing he would ever see.

The monster let out a shriek, like a yell of accomplishment before sinking it's fangs (or whatever was in his mouth, it had to be sharp) into an extra stringy demigod with disappointment on the side. Nico's arms automatically flew up to shield his face.

And it turned out to be a good thing they did, because the next second grey-white sludge was raining down on him as the entire monster collapsed and melted, leaving Nico laying there slightly in shock and stewing in a giant puddle of goo.

Standing there, holding a blade that looked far too dark and heavy to be held by someone so bright looking, was the mortal. He looked stunned, and stared at Nico as avidly as Nico was staring at him.

"This… is not a normal sword," he concluded.

Nico let his head fall back on the makeshift pillow of mud, that was already sinking into the ground. He wasn't sure if it was relief or extreme embarrassment that he felt.

The guy approached him, careful not to step on the patches of mud, and offered his hand. Nico took a moment to stare at it before taking it and leaning an unfortunate amount of weight to pull himself to his feet. He took back his sword and sheathed it, and then brushed at himself, trying to get off as much of the mud as possible. Most of it fell away pretty easily.

"Look, you seem like the all-mysterious 'I work alone' type of guy, but whatever you did to heal yourself didn't work. I really don't think I'm in that much danger, I mean the monsters can't smell me. Let me come with you."

Nico considered him more seriously. Despite his softness and naiveté, it was clear he was no coward. And he really did have a point. Without him, Nico would be strolling through the fields of punishment by now. Whether he liked it or not, he needed someone to watch his back. He was just useless that way. So he just nodded and turned, continuing to walk but allowing the guy to follow.

"I'm Casey Stone, by the way." he said matter-of-factly. He didn't ask directly for Nico's name, though he left a space open so Nico could tell it if he wanted. Nico wasn't sure if he should. He was still trying somewhat not to develop any sort of attachment between himself and Casey, as it could only mean trouble. He wasn't even sure why Casey was so keen on becoming chums with Nico. Friendly definitely wasn't a vibe most people got from him. Somehow, Casey just wasn't afraid, or maybe excitement over finding out what his various visions had meant all this time was trumping his fear of the weirdo son of the death god. Well at any rate, Nico knew what it was like to feel isolated by knowledge and feelings. If he'd been the only one seeing monsters everywhere, he'd want to know more about it too. The least he could do was be honest.

"Nico Di Angelo."

Casey smiled. "So, where exactly are we going?"

In all honesty, Nico had just been wandering in the hope that movement would keep his scent spread out and his location more difficult to pinpoint. He was completely without a plan. Well, now that he had someone with a bit more knowledge, it was time to be the one asking the questions.

"Where exactly am I? What city?"

"Perpignan, France."

Nico inwardly cursed himself. He'd backtracked nearly a hundred miles.

"So, in the time you've been living here, have you ever come across any strange shops or places, where lots of monsters might be congregated?" He knew marching into a crowd of monsters wasn't a great plan, but only some place similar might have a few drachmas lying around. It was the only course of action he could think of toward finding Reyna and Coach Hedge.

"Um, I don't think so, but I've only been here a few days."

"What?"

"Yeah, I'm just visiting France, I don't live here. Didn't you wonder why I speak English?"

He had a point. Nico hadn't even thought about it.

"Well in that case we need a map. Where can we get one?"

"I might still have a map in here somewhere," he said, digging around in a small backpack he was wearing. Could Nico even get that lucky?

Apparently. "Here," Casey pulled out a folded, crunched up map, pulled it a bit flatter and handed it over. Nico quickly scanned it, not even sure what he was looking for. But he'd almost forgotten what normally happened when he tried to read things. Whenever he tried to focus on the labels, the letters shifted themselves around and made it impossible.

"Could you maybe give me a hand with this," he muttered.

"Sure, why?" Casey took back the map.

"Dyslexic."

"Oh," he spared a glance at Nico before turning his attention to the map. "So what are we looking for?"

"I don't even know," he admitted, "anything suspicious where there might be something mythical lurking around. I seriously need a drachma or two."

"Well I mean there's a bunch of suspicious places on here, scattered around."

"What do you mean?" Nico leaned in to look closer at the map. He couldn't make out the words, but everything looked like regular shops and street names.

"The Lastrigonian Cafe? Monster Donuts? Et cetera?"

"Where does it say that?"

"Here," he pointed to a couple of places that seemed completely blank. It wasn't even dyslexia causing it, there was really nothing there.

"I don't see it."

"It's right there, I swear, look closer."

Nico concentrated on where Casey was pointing. For a moment he thought he caught something, but only out of the corner of his eye.

"I still can't really see… but I think you're right. Sometimes mortals who can see through the mist see better than half-bloods." He recalled how Rachel Elizabeth Dare had led Percy through Daedalus's labyrinth a few years back. Thinking of those times made him feel slightly sick.

"Okay then, so which of these sketchy dangerous monster hangouts do you want to try out first?"

"Whichever one is closest."

"This monster donuts is the closest I think… but it's still a pretty long ways off. We should probably hail a taxi or get on a bus or something."

"No. We're walking. Since we're going toward where all the monsters are gathered they'll be after me. There will be more like that gryffin, and if we're stuck inside a bus everyone on that bus will probably get killed. And we probably shouldn't kill any taxi drivers either. I want to be out in the open, being trapped is never good in a fight."

"Oh, okay then I guess we're walking." He referenced the map. "It's that way, I think."  
"Okay," Nico murmured, looking at the direction he pointed in. So they started off toward the street light Casey had indicated, and fell into a bit of a silence. After a while, Nico interrupted it. "Thanks."

"No problem, I can read a map anytime." He smiled.

"No, I mean thanks for saving me."

"Oh," he said, looking slightly more sheepish. "No problem."  
"And for stopping when you saw me on the ground. And for offering to help." And for not treating me with the fear you probably feel, his mind added.

Casey was looking at his feet. Was he actually blushing? "It's really what anyone would do."

"Not in the slightest." It seemed incredible that anyone would think approaching someone passed out on the street, treating him like normal even though he obviously wasn't, following him to make sure he was okay, and then saving his life was not a big deal. "Did you just see me lying there and decide you would help? Why did you think it would be safe?"

"Well, I don't know. You didn't look like a monster."

Nico wanted to laugh at that. Just because he didn't look like a monster didn't mean he wasn't one.

They walked along a bit more and Casey filled in the silence.  
"So, what exactly happened to you? I mean why do you need a drachma?"

Nico supposed he still hadn't said a single thing about his mission or his lost companions. "It's a very long story." Understatement. "But me, and a couple of other half-bloods are trying to stop a war between two camps, and then we got attacked by demon birds, and I tried to shadow travel but it didn't turn out well. So I need to do something called an Iris message, to contact them and find them. I need a gold drachma to do it."

Casey seemed to be able to tell that there was way more to the story than Nico could tell in a reasonable amount of time. He took a second to process before asking his next question.

"So, two camps? What camps?"

"Camp Half-blood, where Greek demigods live, and Camp Jupiter, where the Roman ones live. They used to be separate with different versions of the gods, but now they've become aware of each other and are threatening to go to war."

"Which one are you?"

Nico hesitated for a moment. "Neither."

"What do you mean, neither?"

Nico didn't answer. He just kept walking along in silence.

After a moment, Casey started up again "So, if you're in neither where do you live?"

"Why do you keep asking me things? You haven't even told me a thing about you, why do you need a story of my life?"

"Oh, well, what do you want to know?"

Nico felt agitated and folded his arms. "Just talk."

"Well, my life isn't that interesting compared to yours, I mean… I guess I travel a lot. My parents are divorced, and I live with my dad. He takes me on a lot of business trips like this one."

"Where is he now?"

"At a meeting. Today is his big meeting day, he's out all day."

"So he just left you out here alone?"

"Yeah, well, he trusts me."

For some reason these words stung something in Nico's chest. He had to stop drawing parallels that didn't exist. Maybe it was true for Hazel, but not for him. Hades didn't trust Nico farther than he could throw him. Well, Hades could probably throw Nico pretty far, but there was definitely no trust there. Why should there be, anyway? He'd never done anything trustworthy.

"Aren't you betraying his trust, then? Running off to get yourself killed?"

He shrugged. "I think this is more important. Alright, we turn right here," he said, glancing back down at the map. "I hope you have some sort of plan to get drachmas without getting killed."

Nico purposefully didn't answer. It didn't matter that they had no plan, there wasn't anything else they could do.

"Um, maybe I should hold the sword," Casey said tentatively. "Just because, I don't know if you'd have the strength to fight." After glancing at Nico he added quickly, "Just a thought."

The thought of walking into monster infested areas severely weakened and unarmed made Nico want to throw up. Maybe he wasn't completely useless. He drew his sword and felt it in his hands. It felt at least ten pounds heavier than normal. There was no way he could fight with this, but Casey lacked training. He made a spur of the moment decision.

Nico stopped walking. Casey stopped too and looked at him curiously. Nico turned to him, handed him the sword, and said "I'm going to give you a quick fighting lesson before we get there."

"Oh, okay. Well, I did take a fencing class once."

Nico shook his head. "That's different than monster training at camp Half-Blood. My methods are a little different from theirs, because I learned from… unconventional means. But you can't go in there completely unprepared, even if you don't smell appetizing."

There wasn't much he could teach in the amount of time they had, but he would still feel better about going into the monster donut shop with Casey at least knowing a couple techniques. Nico carefully went over the best way to hold the sword, how to stand, and a couple of basic dodges considering the attacks monsters might try to use. Casey hung on his every word, trying hard to learn it quickly. Nico pretended to be a monster attacker, and Casey's defence was unnervingly weak. After a couple tries he was a little better, but the lessons made Nico even more anxious than he'd been before.

At least he'll have the surprise factor, Nico thought dejectedly. It had been enough to defeat the griffin, but what if the stygian iron blade alerted monsters to Casey's presence? There was no use thinking about it. Unless either of them came up with a better plan, this was all they had.


	3. Chapter 3

(Chapter 3) Nico

They approached the corner and hid behind it while Casey peeked around to see where the shop was. Nico took a glance too, over his shoulder. It wasn't easy to pick out amid the normal shops lining the streets. It was the same colors and there was nothing unusual about it except its customers. Nico sucked in a breath as he watched Laistrygonians milling around, chatting to cyclopes. Drakons made their way along down the streets. Everywhere you looked there were more monsters. How they had not detected Nico yet, especially as a child of the big three, Nico was unsure.

Nico would have expected Casey to be more surprised than he was looking at them. But then again, he had probably been around this part of town before and encountered them then. Maybe it would have been better for him to be scared, though. He wasn't used to being actually attacked by the monsters that seemed not to care about him.

"Are we going to start fighting our way in?" he turned back to Nico.

"I… think it would be a better idea to keep hidden as long as possible. I can hide you in the shadows easily and they won't smell you. Me on the other hand…" Nico frowned in concentration. He couldn't take the risk that the monsters weren't even going to smell him when he was right under their noses.

"How about you walk on the roofs? You'll stay more out of the way, and then find a way in through a back door or something."

It was a thought. Nico examined the roof tops, looking for things he thought he could climb. He thought he could hide himself from the mortals easily enough using shadows, and the buildings were covered in decorative pieces and windows he could use. Almost every one of them had a balcony. It was a better plan than just walking straight through.

"Okay, we'll give it a try. You're coming with me though, we shouldn't take the chance of splitting up even if you are a mortal. Since no one is going into the Monster Donut shop, my guess is nobody sees it. So it would be weird if u just walked in. We'll enter it together."

Casey nodded and they proceeded toward the buildings. When Nico let his veil of darkness fall over them Casey let out a small "whoah…" They quickly found handholds and began to climb.

It would have felt much less ridiculous if they hadn't been in broad daylight. Nico refused to let himself look down to see the mortal's reactions. Hopefully not too many of them were running around panicking. All that mattered was that no one tried to tell them to stop, because they weren't going to and it would just draw a lot of unwelcome attention.

When they got to the top Nico kept the shadow going, though even this small effort seemed to be robbing him of strength since he didn't have much to begin with. He didn't mention this to Casey. He would deal with his own issues and force himself through it. They just needed one drachma. Then they could get the heck out of there.

They crouched lower the closer they got to the shop, and leaped easily across the small gaps between the rooftops. It seemed to Nico that a couple of the monsters were sniffing the air curiously, detecting dinner. No point in thinking about it, though. They weren't looking up. Yet.

After what seemed like days crawling along the roof right over a sea of monsters' heads, they finally reached the building adjacent to their target. Nico told Casey to go ahead a little since they couldn't smell him and try and see if there were any entrances to the shop other than the front door. There had to be some sort of back entrance, or at least a window, though crashing in through the window didn't seem the most discreet option.

Casey came back with nothing, however. "There's really just the door. It's not built like a normal place. No windows, no alternate entrances, just the door."

"Then I guess we fight," said Nico solemnly.

They walked along to the very edge of their building. Over the side, it seemed there were absolutely no mortals around. The place was teeming with monsters who all looked hungry. Nico didn't even know what hungry was supposed to look like, but they definitely looked it. The two of them planned their descent, quietly pointing out which hand and footholds they could use to get down with the most discretion. Of course, the smart part of Nico's brain told him this was absolutely no use as the monsters would notice them as soon as they started climbing, in all likelihood. They might as well take advantage of their secrecy as long as possible.

"You don't have to do this," Nico finally told Casey as they were preparing to start the climb. "There is actually a high chance of death, you know. I'm not even at full power, and this plan is nuts."

"I'm coming." Casey gave Nico a brave look and then looked down and added more nervously, "If I do get killed, though, what exactly… happens?"

"You go to a place called Elysium. It's basically paradise. Or you choose to be reborn."

"Will I be able to… you know, like watch over my living family and all?"

"You just stay in Elysium… I'm sorry. Again you really don't-"

He actually cut Nico off by putting a hand to his mouth. Nico was too thrown off by this to think to be repulsed by the sudden physical contact. "I'm coming." Before Nico could even respond he had started the climb downward, toward the donut shop.

They were almost to the ground by the time the first monster took notice. A cyclops was standing only a couple feet away, which was lucky. Nico sunk his knife into it before it could let out a roar and alert the rest of the monsters. But their luck lasted about five seconds after it had melted.

They started skimming along the wall, going for the door, but that was where most of the monsters were, and they came to life with roars and shrieks and every other kind of nightmarish noise. Running off pure adrenaline Nico managed to turn tons of them to glop, but for every one monster he killed three replaced it. Nico was weakening fast and his thrusts were getting less accurate and more desperate with every one of them. They were still trying to fight their way along the wall and into the shop but pretty soon Nico thought he'd be overwhelmed. He was pressing Casey against the wall with his back, trying to shield him with his body. He would smell like a mortal to the monsters and maybe they would just decide not to eat him. But Nico knew he would much rather Casey get out of this alive than Nico himself.

One drakon got a rake across Nico's arm with a claw and Nico almost dropped his sword. It would have been over but before he could stop him, Casey took the sword and stabbed the drakon with it. He was surprisingly fast and precise, and Nico remembered what he had said about fencing classes.

"Go, go, go!" He yelled to Nico, as Nico had stopped for a moment to stare stupidly. Nico began pushing along again as Casey took over trying to defend them. They just had to get into the door. And then… what? More monsters? Nico tried not to reflect on the stupidity of his plan and told himself if he had to he could shadow travel them out. He'd be completely wiped out again, but he was more recovered than he had been when escaping with Reyna and Coach Hedge. He was resolved not to lose Casey.

There was seriously no way Casey had only taken one fencing class, he was excellent. Nico would have been better at his full strength, but at least they were still alive. The second they reached the door Nico pushed into it and pulled Casey with him. They took off at a bolt, actually knocking a couple of monsters over before one of them grabbed Nico's wrist and almost dislocated it, pulling him back. Another got Casey soon after.

Nico fully expected to be eaten immediately, but for some reason the cyclops holding him seemed more intent on just keeping him captured. Casey had cuts all over him and Nico silently cursed himself. He found himself praying in desperation to the gods, but he doubted any of them would have time to help while they were busy fighting between their halves. He and Casey were done for. He couldn't even reach Casey to shadow travel them out of this, and he wasn't going anywhere without him.

The cyclopes dragged the two of them further into the shop, amid the other monsters which hissed and screeched at them but, for some reason, didn't dig in. They were brought all the way to the back, and there, Nico saw someone behind the cash register who made his blood curdle.

There stood a green, scaly monster woman who towered above most of the other monsters, even the cyclopes. It was Kampê, a monster who had fought at the battle of Manhattan. Why was she here, of all places? And why was she alive?

"Hello, Nico Di Angelo," she hissed wickedly at him. Nico felt like he'd swallowed a block of ice. "And who's this? A new little friend?"

"I thought you were killed before," Nico seemed to cough out pathetically, once he'd found his voice. She just smirked.

"Well, we did go through a very nice period of time in which that wasn't too difficult to fix." Nico detected a gleam of hatred in her eyes for the closing of the Doors of Death. Tons of monsters must have been slain since then, including those Nico and Casey had ended on their way in.

"Now, I am sure you're wondering why we let you enter."

Nico felt slightly exasperated. Did they always have to know everything they were going to do before they did it? "If you were letting us in, couldn't you have spared the gigantic monster attack at least?"

She laughed, "Well maybe they wouldn't have given you so much trouble if you hadn't been trying your best to slaughter them. They just wanted to capture you." She leered at him. "Now, to business. I have a nice little message to you from Gaia."

Nico clenched his fists from beneath the cyclopes' thick fingers.

"Don't look so angry, Nico Di Angelo. Honestly you halfbloods always assume the worst. She just wants to extend you the hand of friendship."

"Yeah, no thank you."

"Nico, Nico, Nico." She slid out from behind her countertop and approached him slowly. "So sure in your loyalties, at last. Determined to blindly follow those who have done you nothing but wrong, and destroyed your life. You've chosen the side of the gods. Or no, not really. You've chosen the side of Percy Jackson."

Nico clenched his jaw and glared at her defiantly, refusing to respond.

"I suppose I can see the... ah… appeal."

Well she knew Nico's secret. That much was obvious. How, though? Was it just common knowledge among the immortals or something? Or maybe Cupid just couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"You've seen yourself how little he cares for you. How little any of them care for you. And you do work so hard, don't you?"

"Look, you're not convincing me to change sides. It doesn't matter whether they care about me, I care about them!"

"Well, if that's your decision, it's your funeral, so to speak. You could have anything you wanted. And speaking of funerals, we're out of time. I have an appointment with a certain sister of yours."

Nico narrowed his eyes but his heart was racing. "What have you done to Hazel?"

"Oh, no, not that one."

He forced control over his breathing. She was just lying now. She assumed he was that easy to manipulate, but he wasn't. At least, he was determined not to be.

"Bianca is dead. She's gone."

"But is she now? Still?"

Nico felt his chest hollow out. "You- you have no way of knowing-"

"Don't be so quick to make assumptions about the powers that we have, that those on the side you've chosen would never dream of. Well, I suppose we're done here. Now we might as well dispose of this mortal. The last one who could see through the mist made quite a hassle." She turned to Nico. "You may go."

The second the grip loosened on his hands as his cyclopes turned their attention to Casey, Nico lunged forward and stabbed his guard. Before anyone had a chance to make a move, before Nico even had a chance to think, he'd grabbed Casey's elbow and dragged him into a shadow travel.

Nico's strength lasted until the end this time, but he didn't have enough so that he could determine where they were going exactly. He just tried to push them far, far away from that shop and from Kampê. They tumbled out into grass, Nico thoroughly exhausted but still sweating nervously from the mention of Bianca.

He dropped to the ground and just lay there. Casey knelt down next to him, quiet for once. Nico forced himself not to fall asleep. He supposed he had some explaining to do. The thought of talking about Bianca made him feel sick, but he should at least explain about Percy's quest and Gaia. When he tried to sit up, Casey quickly helped him upright.

"So… what was that… thing talking about?"

Nico sighed slowly. It was really more like drawing in a breath to try and build enough energy to speak. "Gaia is the mother of all. And she and the giants are trying to destroy the gods. Percy Jackson…" he felt his stomach twist at the feeling of the name in his mouth, "He's a demigod, and he's a hero. He and six other heroes are going to try and face Gaia. They need all the help they can get, which is why it would be a disaster if the Greek and Roman camps went to war with each other."

Casey seemed tactful enough not to ask about the sister thing. Or maybe he sensed that Nico was seriously too tired to have a chat.

They sat in silence, but it only lasted for a moment. They did have to continue. "What do we do now though, now that you're all weak again? And where are we?"

Nico looked around at the scenery. It seemed to be some sort of park, with pathways through the field and trees in the distance. The air smelled fresh and clean, like it was no where near a city. "I have no idea where we are. And since we didn't get the drachmas-"

"Well, actually…" Casey used his shoulder to prop Nico up so he could free his other hand. He held it out, and in it were five gold drachmas. Nico stared at them, uncomprehending.

"How in the world…"

"Well when the cyclopes were holding me, they pulled me back so you could talk to that monster, right? They pulled me back against the cash register and they were so absorbed in your conversation, they didn't even notice. I reached in and grabbed a few.

Nico slid off of Casey and stretched out on the grass. He was worried about Bianca and whether her new form was in danger, and Percy and the rest of the seven were probably dying on their quest, and Nico was out of action again, leaving them no decent way to travel to where Reyna and Coach hedge were, but they had something. Just that one thing. And Nico closed his eyes, and laughed with relief.


	4. Chapter 4

(Chapter 4) Nico

They didn't take a long break before they were moving again. The bright afternoon light had long since reached its peak and it was now starting to dim in earnest. Next, as Nico explained, they had to find some sort of fountain or spray bottle that they could use to make a rainbow, and they had to hurry before the sun went down. Casey trotted along behind as Nico led the way across the park. It seemed likely there would be some sort of decorative fountain there, but neither of them saw anything.

Casey was being unusually quiet, or at least quieter than he had been since Nico had met him. Nico had to keep glancing behind over his shoulder to make sure Casey was still there.

"We should probably ask around and find out where exactly we are," Nico suggested, looking around. "Hopefully there's someone here who speaks English."

Casey still didn't reply and Nico kept glancing back at him, more than was necessary. He was hugging his stomach and looking down at his feet as he walked. Nico wasn't great with people, but it was pretty obvious something was wrong. He debated for a couple minutes with himself whether it was worth it to try some sort of comfort. It probably wouldn't actually do much to help, but he did want to know what was bothering him, since it probably affected Nico.

"Are you okay, Casey?"

Casey just glanced up and then back down, fidgeting with the bottom of his sweater. "Yeah, course."

"You seem… quiet?" It was way out of his comfort zone to push Casey into saying anything, but he told himself to just do it. He didn't think it was a good idea to have a depressed partner. He thought part of him just didn't want Casey to be sad as well, even though he barely knew the kid.

"Just… would it be okay if I called my Dad?"

Nico felt his chest compress on itself. He'd almost forgotten that Casey wasn't alone like so many halfbloods were. His dad actually cared about his happiness, and would be missing him. But a phone call was never a good idea, it could lead monsters right to them.

"I- it's not a good idea. Phone signals broadcasting your voice- it attracts monsters."

"Oh. Text message then? There are thousands going out every day, I doubt it'll attract any attention."

"Yeah, okay…" Nico felt slightly sick. He hadn't thought about it. He hadn't even mentioned to Casey that he was going to shadow travel away if they couldn't get out of that shop. Now they had no idea where they were, and even if they could find out Nico didn't have nearly enough energy to get him back. He had dragged Casey into this and it would be a while before Casey would even be able to leave. Nico watched Casey pull out his phone and start punching in numbers.

"It should be fine… I'll tell him I'm staying at a friend's house. I might be in a bit of trouble when I get back, but it'll be okay." Casey seemed to have noticed Nico's agitation with himself for bringing Casey this far away from where he was supposed to be. Nico had to resist adding bitterly, if you get back.

Casey still looked worried but had gone from staring at his feet to looking around distractedly. Nico stopped to ask a couple of people where they were, but he found that, frustratingly, none of them spoke any English. He tried to tell from the sounds of their speech what country they could be in, but he could only tell that they weren't speaking Greek.

Casey finally spoke up, "Maybe we should get out of here and look for a town or city with more people, or a gift shop with a spray bottle."

Nico just nodded, feeling lost and stressed. The short burst of confidence that he'd felt when Casey had pulled out the drachmas had already dissipated. They followed the sidewalk that wound around the park until they reached the park exit, which led to a small suburban parking lot and a road lined with trees. Occasionally a car would drive by. It was a very peaceful, middle of nowhere sort of place. Nico wished they had a car so they could go faster but all they could do was walk along the edge of the road.

"Sorry," Nico finally said, because he'd been about to burst. "I didn't mean to get you so wrapped up into this, seriously-"

"Stop," Casey said, and he smiled big. "It was my choice remember? It's alright. Besides, I never could have imagined myself having this cool of an adventure." They were literally just walking down a road, lost.

Occasionally they would pass a road that branched off or a stoplight, but they decided not to change route. It would only get them more lost. At least they would be able to get back to the park this way, though why they would ever need to go back there neither of them knew. At some point, Casey struck up a conversation and seemed to get back to normal, asking Nico question after question about the demigod world. He had Nico explain the camps and talk about all the different monsters he'd come across. Nico finally got around to telling him more about the quest, including the seven halfbloods that had been headed to fight Gaia, and the prophecy, and more about the war Nico, Reyna, and Coach Hedge were trying to prevent. Casey listened wide-eyed to all of it.

Finally, _finally_ luck struck them as they came approached yet another traffic light and to the left, down the intersecting road, they heard distant sounds of traffic. It wasn't city noise, but it at least seemed more populated than the placed they'd seen previously, so they decided to turn there.

It wasn't long before they approached a shopping center and without even pausing to converse, they went into it, looking around at the shops. All the shop names were in a different language, and Nico thought maybe it was Spanish? That would mean they hadn't gone too from where Nico had lost Reyna and Coach Hedge. At least they were still in the same country.

"So, which shop?" Casey asked, looking at Nico.

"Whichever one might sell a spray bottle."

The sun was still up, but it was wavering tauntingly close to the line of trees. It was going to be be too dark soon. "Casey, do you have money?"

"A few euros. It should be enough to buy a spray bottle."

That was good, at least they wouldn't have to steal. "Okay, let's hurry."

They entered the first shop that didn't seem like a restaurant and looked around. It was more of a department store, which meant they probably did have what they were looking for. A little hope was starting to brush at Nico's chest as they walked briskly across the isles, unable to read any of the titles but looking down each of them at the contents of the store. Finally they saw a display of water bottles and practically sprinted down it, looking at everything, trying to find something that could spray. Casey was the one who spotted it and grabbed it. They hurried across the store to the front. Nico wanted to use self checkout but Casey pointed out that they wouldn't be able to decipher how it worked. They ended up waiting in a line. The checkout guy didn't speak English, but since they were just paying with cash he didn't really need to. They just gave him the money and he gave them change.

They went quickly to the back where the bathrooms were and filled the bottle at the water fountain, then bolted outside. Nico did not hesitate a second before spraying it in the air, where the last late-afternoon sunlight was fading. He watched closely and the second he saw a flicker of rainbow he muttered his prayer to Isis and threw a drachma into it, supplied by Casey.

For an anxious moment Nico's brain convinced him that it hadn't worked, but then it shimmered and Reyna's image appeared in the mist. Nico shouted, "Reyna!"

She looked terrible. Her face was scratched and her hair was tangled, and she was slumped down against a white statue- the Athena Parthenos! She turned her weary eyes toward Nico. They widened the instant she recognized Nico's face.

Despite her obvious exhaustion she sat bolt upright. "Nico, thank the gods!"

"Where are you?" Nico wasted no time catching up.

"We fell outside Pamplona. Do you have any ambrosia?"

Nico shook his head. He hadn't even thought of saving some for Reyna, though admittedly he doubted he could have shadow travelled Casey and himself out of that shop if he hadn't used the ambrosia previously.

"Well get here fast anyway."

"Where exactly are you? What road?"

"We're along route E15, at the exit that leads into Pamplona. Can you shadow travel now?"

Nico glanced grimly down at the ground. He'd just shadow travelled and he felt desperately weak. He didn't trust himself in this state. "It's not a good idea, but if I have to…"

"Who is that behind you?" She said suddenly, as if just noticing Casey was there. He had been sitting watching their conversation fascinatedly.

"Casey, he's a friend." Nico glanced back over his shoulder at Casey, who awkwardly waved at the Iris message. When he turned his attention back to Reyna, she furrowed her brow.

"Is he a halfblood?"

"No, he's a mortal who can see through the mist."

Reyna looked at him for a moment, and her eyebrows stayed furrowed in thought. Then her eyes widened as if a thought had struck her.

"You mean, he's a mortal, who can see through the mist?"

"Yes… that's what I said."

"Nico, the Labyrinth!"

Of course! They'd decided not to use the Labyrinth because it was too dangerous, but Casey would be able to lead them through it easily. It used to take them across the country. Nico wasn't sure how different it would be now that it was reopened, but Casey would be able to guide them through it. Nico was beginning to get hopeful in earnest. "You're right! We can use the Labyrinth, but it may be longer than expected. Time runs differently in it. How did you know about that…"

"I study."

"Right."

Nico looked to Casey, who was looking utterly confused. When he looked back to Reyna the rainbow was beginning to fade. The sun was going down. "We'll be there, Reyna, just hold on. Wait, where is Coach Hedge?"

"He went looking for something with which to treat my… scratch. Hurry, Nico."

The rainbow finally broke and Reyna's image vanished. Nico turned to Casey, who looked back at him nervously. "What is the Labyrinth?"

"Our next stop."

So they were off again, now wondering around looking for an entrance to the Labyrinth. When he'd described Daedalus' symbol, Casey said he'd never seen it before, which didn't bode well. Before, Rachel had been able to spot it from a long way off, and symbols could be found everywhere. Of course, that had been only in the United States, but obviously the Labyrinth was out in this part of the world as well, since Hazel had found herself controlling it. If it no longer had the mark of Daedalus, finding an entrance could be impossible.

"Have you at least seen some sort of mark? It should sort of jump out at you, like Rachel could spot it from really far away."

He shook his head. "Maybe I've just never come across one. And who's Rachel?"

"She's a mortal who once guided us through the Labyrinth, because she can see through the mist like you. We just need an entrance, then you'll be able to walk us through with no problem."

"Will I be able to see it in the dark?"

"I don't know."

"Right." Casey kept his eyes peeled as they walked, but it seemed like they were still getting nowhere.

"I wish we had a car or something," Casey pointed out. "Is adventuring normally a lot of wandering around lost with some fighting thrown in?"

"Basically." Nico glanced up at the sky. It still wasn't black, but it was getting there. This was pointless; it seemed like there should be some way to travel that wasn't just walking. They needed something faster.

Suddenly Casey grabbed Nico's arm and pointed. "Wait, I see something!"

"Is it a Delta?" Nico strained to see where Casey was pointing but couldn't make out a thing through the dark.

"No, but it's definitely Greek. And it's not blue; it's red."

"What does it look like?"

Casey ran forward a couple yards, pulling Nico behind him. He scanned it closely. "There's four letters…"

He described what he saw carefully to Nico, since Casey didn't know the names of the greek letters. Nico had to rack his brain to remember his Greek, which wasn't as good as some other demigods since he hadn't taken the lessons in Greek at Camp Halfblood.

The first letter was an uppercase Gamma, Nico decided. The next one Nico recognized easily as an Alpha, and Casey said the last letter matched the second letter (there were four letters). The one in between the Alpha's took Nico a second to remember the name of. Casey said it just looked like a normal, lowercase "i".

The name iota came to Nico, and almost as soon as it did Nico's blood seemed to freeze in his veins. Gamma alpha iota alpha, Γαία. It was the Ancient Greek spelling of Gaia.

"Let's go," Nico's voice felt strangled but he began walking in that direction anyway, his footsteps feeling even more shaky.

"Is something wrong?"

Nico shook his head and just kept walking.

No more shopping centers or even buildings appeared, but Casey insisted that they were getting closer. After walking for about ten minutes Casey turned and walked straight into the trees at the side of the road, Nico following along behind him.

"You're sure it's in there?"

"Yes! It's getting clearer, come on."

Casey sped up the pace as he got more excited and it was all Nico could do to tumble along behind and keep up. They finally squeezed between two trees and burst out into a field and Casey declared, "There it is!"

Nico still didn't see anything. Casey walked into the middle of the field and knelt onto the ground, and Nico came over to look.

"Right here," he said, pointing to a spot where he'd pulled apart a few blades of grass. It would have been impossible to see in the dark, but Nico was used to seeing through the shadows. He squinted and saw the same symbols Casey had described. His dyslexia automatically rearranged them into the English that Nico did not want to understand. Chills for fear shivered down his spine but he pressed his hand on the mark anyway, and before them the ground suddenly gaped open. Casey jumped back, alarmed.

"Is that-"

"We don't have time to waste," Nico said solemnly. Once again, he dropped down into the Labyrinth.


	5. Chapter 5

(Chapter 5) Nico

Casey slid in after him and instantly, just as it had years ago, the entranced closed, swallowing them into the beast. It was dark but not pitch black, as if there were some light in a corridor far ahead of them. The walls were rough and cracked, like they were made of black cement.

Nico turned to Casey and said nervously, "Okay, what do you see?" If the Labyrinth had changed enough that even a mortal who could see through the mist couldn't navigate it, they would definitely have to find a different way to Reyna and Coach Hedge.

Casey was looking around. "Well, it's dark except, theres these lights on the floor… do you see those?"

Momentary relief flushed through Nico's system, but he still remembered how dangerous it was in the Labyrinth, even with Rachel's help. The main dangers had been caused by the war going on at the time, but there was sure to be trouble from Gaia this time, and it would probably be much worse.

"That's good. Now you know where we're going: outside of Pamplona. You should be able to… sense it."

Casey was staring at the ground, his brow furrowed. It had been so easy for Rachel to get going, so what was taking so long? Nico's palms began to sweat.

But Casey straightened up and flashed a smile in Nico's direction. "Okay, I think I've got it. There's water pipes running through the walls, and up ahead some of the tiles are set to trigger them so we'll have to watch our step, or we'll get flooded and probably drown. If we turn right in the next corridor I'm pretty sure there's a chute leading to some sort of impaling death, but to the left it seems reasonably clear, though I think there could be more traps along the walls. It's still safer. And if we go left and then straight at the next intersection, we'll be on our way to Pamplona. Come on!" He scampered ahead and Nico hurried along behind, a bubbling of hope in his stomach.

"Am I as good as Rachel yet?" he asked playfully, nudging Nico. Nico just shrugged and said "Sure."

Soon the walls and floor around them started to shift into different materials. The floor became tiled and the walls smoothed out so they looked more like carved stone. It still wasn't high quality, but it seemed more civilized in the building.

Casey threw out an arm and stopped Nico from walking. "Okay, this is the tricky bricks, I can see them." Nico still didn't see anything, but he figured Casey was referring to the light that lead the way for those who could see through the mist. "Do exactly what I do, or we die."

On that lovely note, they began to slowly make their way across. Nico was glad for how thin he'd gotten; less weight made it easier to balance as he hopped onto the tiles that Casey vacated, balancing himself as he waited for Casey to choose the next step. They were more spread apart than in Casey's description. It wasn't like avoiding a few tiles, it was like searching through a sea of bad tiles for a few good ones. To his dismay, Nico felt himself tiring out just from the jumping. The trap seemed to take up an unnecessarily long stretch of floor.

Finally, the end of the tiles appeared ahead. They gave way to a dirt floor with walls that looked like they were made from mud bricks. Casey jumped to just a couple more tiles and then bounded off, onto the dirt, landing squarely and turning to watch Nico. He seemed to realize that Nico was tiring out. "Come on, you're almost there! You got this!"

He just nodded, concentrating. A couple more leaps, and then he was perched on the last tile, but he'd gotten a little to excited and almost tripped off of it. On the other side, Casey gasped and ran closer to the edge. Nico had to push off as hard as possible so that he flew away from the tiles, keeping his knees up until he landed hard on the earth in a heap, almost knocking Casey off of his feet. Casey hurried to help him up.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine." Wasn't this like the third time Casey had said that while Nico was knocked out?

"That was so close, my heart was racing." He sounded anxious and flustered, and helped Nico to his feet.

"Just tired of being tired. Let's keep moving, you said left next right?"

So they continued on, having survived their first obstacle despite Nico's incompetence. He was starting to think he'd never get a chance to heal.

"Just along this corridor, don't touch the walls, and we should be fine."

"Do I want to know what would happen if we do touch the walls?"

"Well you definitely don't want to find out. I can't really tell what's up there but I doubt it's good."

He cheerfully continued on, eyes peeled and alive as they flitted around on the ground and across the walls, looking at things Nico couldn't see. Nico kept thinking about what Kampê had said, about his sister and about Percy. There was no way they could find Bianca's new form. It was just impossible; there was no way to do it. Gaia was obviously trying to trick him anyway. And then, of course, there was the part that he had told himself not to be bothered by. He was of course, bothered just the same. Because he didn't know if anyone did care about him at all. They'd come for him when he'd been kidnapped, but from the way they all treated him, he doubted they would have if it hadn't been for Hazel. And Hazel had to care since he'd brought her back to life. Sometimes he seriously wondered what he was even doing. What was the point?

"Hey, is something wrong?"

Nico hadn't realized he had been letting his steps slow down. He quickened his pace. "Yeah, just thinking." It brought him somewhat out of his reverie, but only to think about what Casey thought. He'd heard what Kampê said to Nico, so he might have figured out something about Nico's feelings for Percy. This shouldn't be the dominant thing on his mind, but the thought of him telling anyone made Nico feel hot with embarrassment. It was bad enough having Jason, who he barely knew, knowing his secret. Also it didn't help that Jason was all for telling everybody and risking being even more outcast than before. Had Casey even figured it out?

"You know I've been thinking too, about all this magic stuff. Like obviously you do that shadow travel thing, so are there any other powers? Hey- watch your step," he suddenly grabbed Nico's arm and pulled him aside. There'd been a brick in front of Nico's foot, presumably another trap.

"Yeah, you sometimes get powers depending on your godly parent." Nico hesitated for a moment, but decided it would keep pestering him if he didn't ask. "Also, about what Kampê said back in the doughnut shop…"

"That thing has a name, huh? Yeah what about it?"

"What- I mean, do you, did you hear anything?" The words felt so awkward and jumbled up in his mouth.

"You mean… about your sister? Or about Percy Jackson?"

Nico felt a twinge in his gut. "They can't actually find Bianca, that was just a lie. But I mean, the thing about Percy, like, you didn't… pick up on anything… or-" Nico felt like his face was boiling off. He wished he hadn't spoken up.

"Hey I'm not going to judge, Nico, really," he said, his voice serious and his eyes intent.

"Right, okay." Nico wanted to ask him to keep it quiet but he didn't feel like opening his mouth again for another year.

"I wouldn't even be the one to judge to be honest. Like, that would be kind of hypocritical, considering." He grinned mysteriously.

Nico blinked at him. What? Casey just shrugged and gave a little smile, continuing to walk. Before he could give himself a chance to change his mind, Nico stuttered out, "Um, p-please don't tell."

Casey laughed. "Of course not, I wouldn't do that. You can trust me okay?" He looked at Nico earnestly, his eyes sincere. Nico was still pondering his "hypocritical" comment.

Casey glanced a couple times over at Nico, probably trying to decide whether he should ask Nico if he was okay yet again. Am I ever okay? Nico thought bitterly.

They approached the crossroads Casey had mentioned earlier, the ones where they were supposed to go straight. Casey paused, looking apprehensive.

"What is it?"

"We're definitely supposed to go straight, that's where the lights are leading." Casey squinted ahead. "But it doesn't look… safe. Are you feeling at all stronger than the last time? I have a feeling things are about to get worse."

Nico didn't feel much better, but he was determined not to show it. There was no point anyway, there was only one way ahead and it was through that corridor. "What exactly do you see?"

"Well, there's a tub of… something up there, which I'd bet wouldn't be good to step in. And right after that there's something- axes, maybe- imbedded in the walls.I think if we crawl we can avoid those, but then it looks like there's more, so we'll have to be really really careful."

Nico did not want to deal with this, but if that was where Casey said they had to go, it was the only way forward. "I think I can do it."

"Okay," Casey said tentatively. They approached the entrance with caution, and Casey kept his eyes fixed ahead of them. About two yards into it Casey stopped them, scanning the walls and floor. "Do we jump over this or…"

"Jump over what?"

For a second Casey was confused. "Wait it's right there… I guess you don't see it? Well there's a big tub of liquid, and to me there isn't even any ground over it. The idea must be to get people to fall in, because they can't see. So that means we can just jump over right?"

"How far do we jump?"

"I'll go first, and I'll stand at the brink so you can jump a bit farther than me." He braced himself and leapt across the patch of ground he had indicated easily, landing a short distance away. He turned back. "This time I'll try and catch you if you fall, okay?"

Nico wanted to protest, but he figured he might as well accept the gesture. He wouldn't be needing it, though; it wasn't that big a jump.

So he walked forward until Casey stopped him and then prepared himself, staring at where Casey was standing and imagining the edge going across the dirt ground. He wanted to jump a little further than necessary, just to be safe, but he wasn't even sure he was strong enough. Taking a deep breath, he bent his knees and sprung with all his might.

It wasn't nearly as graceful as Casey had been, but he stumbled onto the ground past where Casey was standing and clambered to his feet quickly, so Casey wouldn't try to help him up. "That wasn't so bad," he lied, brushing off the dust. Then suddenly, Casey grabbed him and forced him to the ground as a huge, rusted axe swung over their heads. It was enough to get Nico's heart beating. For a second they were lying there, face to face, and very close.

Casey's big brown eyes blinked at him, and he whispered, "Has anyone ever told you that you have really nice eyes?"

"Huh?" For a strange moment Nico just stared at him, and couldn't breathe. It was just too obvious what he meant by it to even make up something else it could mean. But Nico couldn't wrap his mind around the concept.

Because Casey was just so normal. Being gay was just another stupid thing for Nico to hate about himself. Jason didn't seem to mind, but Nico knew how weird it was, and how wrong. None of the others felt that way. Also, it just had to be Percy Jackson, the guy with the literal best girlfriend on the planet. Every time Nico even thought about Percy he felt disgusted with himself. How could Casey possibly feel like that, too? Casey was just a sweet, thoughtful guy. He wasn't tainted like Nico. It made him feel very strange now, staring right into Casey's eyes. He wasn't sure who he was seeing in a new light: Casey or himself. Part of him desperately wanted it to be the latter, wanted Nico to maybe not be the freak that he felt like.

And it didn't help that Nico was now blushing like crazy.

"Sorry," Casey said quickly, his voice shaky. "We crawl for a little while and then we'll have to be careful because there's a trip wire at the end."

Nico tried to shake himself out of it, but his mind was still reeling, and he couldn't shake that weird detached nervousness that had appeared. Casey seemed determined to ignore it, though, and Nico wasn't one to purposely continue awkward conversations, even though part of him was very eager to talk. Does he really like me?

They dragged along on their elbows, the swings of the blades overhead close enough that the wind whipped their hair back and forth.

"We're getting close," Casey warned anxiously, squinting up ahead. Nico could see where the axes probably ended. The ground changed from packed dirt to wooden planks up there. He could see the trip wire as well, when he looked closely. Unfortunately, as they got closer, the final axe swung directly over the trip wire. If they stood up, they got sliced, and if they didn't they got to find out exactly what the wire was going to do to them.

"What are we going to do?" Casey whispered weakly. He had been leading the way excellently; Nico had almost forgotten that he'd had just about no experience with imminent death before this excursion.

"Don't panic," said Nico, trying to sound calming but probably failing miserably. "We just need to time it right. There's a bit of space between axes, and it should be enough to stand in. So we can wait until the axe has swung and jump over the wire right then, and then it'll swing back and we'll be gone. We'll have to do it one at a time, though. Do you want me to go first? I can see the axe and the trip wire, is there anything else?"

"That's it," he said, licking his lips nervously. "But be careful on the other side, I can see a snake pit just past here. And don't go too far, because up ahead the walls start closing. We'll be able to run through it but that'll have to be together."

"Got it." Nico scrutinized the axes as they swung overhead, looking for that space in between. Once again, he was glad he was small. Slowly, he rose up in between them, feeling them swoosh directly in front and behind him. He hardly dared to breathe. He just stared ahead, counting the seconds in between swings of the axe. He let his fear and worry drain out of him, leaving only a mask of calm and concentration as he stared at it, swinging by. One… two… three… four… Four seconds. It could have been worse. So he waited. And… Go! The split second it had passed he hopped forward and over the wire, and this time managed not to stumble. So he turned and knelt down so he was closer to eye level with Casey, still laying flat on his stomach.

"See? It's not too bad. Just be careful. There are four seconds in between swings. Stand slowly so none of them hit you, you should be thin enough. Casey nodded and began to collect himself. He pulled his knees underneath of him, his shoulders turned toward Nico so the axes were swinging passed his face and chest. His eyes were wide, but Nico gave him a nod of encouragement. So he did the same as Nico, straightening his knees and trying not to shake too much. "It's going to be alright, just stay calm," Nico tried to console him. Shaking with fear was not going to be helpful.

Casey gave a nearly indiscernible nod and finally stood up all the way. He was biting his lip and Nico watched his eyes following the blade. Careful now… Nico thought. You can do this.

Casey's face was pale and he looked like he would rather be just about anywhere else. But at the exact right moment he sprung forward and safely landed next to Nico, still shaking but looking incredibly relieved.

"Good, you're safe, it's okay now." Nico assured him, feeling relief flushing through him. "Let's keep going."

Casey nodded and kept his chin up, putting on a brave smile. "Alright, next step, the snake pit, which has a rim around it we can walk on. And then we run between the walls before they close-and we have to be careful I think there's something else past them too. You ready?"  
"Yes." Nico would have led the way, but he still couldn't see the snake pit so he kept close next to Casey.

If Nico could just get his act together, they wouldn't have needed to be in this situation. Casey would never have had to meet him. He'd have been safe with his dad. And who even knew what situation Reyna and Coach Hedge were in.

When they were standing right over the snake pit, Nico finally looked down and could see that the floor had disappeared. If he hadn't known it was there, he would most likely have fallen in. The sounds of hissing reached them from about ten feet down. The drop wouldn't kill them if they fell, it would be up to the snakes. But it was tall enough to keep the snakes in.

"There's the rim," Casey pointed to the edge. It was awfully thin, and there were no grips on the walls. But the jump was way too big to be realistic.

Nico was going to go first, but Casey was already on the edge, hugging the wall and starting to make his way across. Nico hurried over and fell in after him. It felt ridiculously unstable standing there and shuffling along, but Nico refused to give mind to it. There were no snakes down there, he told himself. It was just a step down.

They were more than halfway across when Casey's foot slipped and he let out a strangled yelp. Nico threw an arm around him and pressed him against the wall, his heart beating out of control. They froze there for a moment, trying to recollect themselves.

"Thanks," Casey murmured.

"No problem."

At the end of it they both fell onto the normal ground. Nico was getting tired of this maze already. But Casey didn't hesitate before grabbing Nico's wrist and yelling "Run!"

With a loud creak, the walls started to close in on them, just as Casey had said. They bolted down the next hallway, Casey leading the way. Soon their shoulders were bumping the sides, but they could see the end ahead and they sped up. Nico felt his exhaustion starting to pester him around the edges, but he refused to give it any consequence. They had to get to the other side.

They tumbled out, Casey ahead of Nico, and then before either of them could move a great roaring crash echoed through the corridor as a stone wall slammed down right in between them, and the walls behind Nico closed.

"Nico!" Casey yelled from behind the wall, his voice muffled but audible. "Nico are you okay can you hear me?!"

"I can hear you! Casey do you see a way around this?"

"There's nothing, there's absolutely nothing!" he sounded hysterical. "Nico what are we going to do, there's no way around this!"  
"Just calm down. Do you think you can envision a path that circles around back here?"  
"I don't know," he cried.

"You'll have to try."

"But isn't it closed off on all sides now?"

"Well, things change in the Labyrinth. Walls move. There's got to be a way back to each other, just keep calm." Nico looked around him, at the four walls. As he traced his eyes over them a couple of times, they fell on a hallway where a wall had been a moment before. "I see a way out now. You should be able to find, me okay?"

He listened for Casey's answer but couldn't hear anything. "Okay?!" he said louder, pressing his ear against it. But no reply came. Either Casey had gone to look for him, Nico had suddenly been transported to a different part of the Labyrinth entirely, or there was another trap and Casey was dead.

And whichever one had happened, for the first time, Nico was completely alone in the Labyrinth.


End file.
